I got this guy(?) from a college chick on Craigslist who had him for the past year. He is 1224 grams and ~4feet (Underweight IMO as there's a bit of spine showing, though no ribs) she was only giving him a medium mouse every 14 days. She also had a heat rock in there with him (thank God no burns) and had been kept in ambient humidity (AZ..15-20ish%) for the last year. She thought he was done growing because he hadn't grown in the last year...I know it was because of his feeding size/sched. She said he was super sketchy and nippy, but he's been nothing but a lover to me thus far, super mellow and LOVES to be held.He thinks the dog is interesting, and the dog thinks he's pretty cool too. The cats are terrified, but curious.
I don't want to change too much at once for him, so rather than going to the appropriate sized rat immediately (this sat is 10 days from his last feed, moving him to every 7 after that if he'll take it) I'll stick with the medium mice for this feed, but plan to see if he will take 2 of them. If so, the next feed will be an attempt to switch to rats. If he takes those for a few feeds, I plan to swap him to either fresh killed (If I can find live rats local cheap enough) or Frozen/Thawed.
He is in a 40 gallon tall aquarium with a screen lid, which is what he came in. I have a UTH, but am waiting on my thermostat to show up tomorrow or Sat to install it. Current heat is a CHE and a space heater a few feet away from the tank on the hot side. It took some experimentation, but it's floating from 88-90 degrees on the hot side and 80-82 on the cool side, so I think this should work until my thermo gets here.
Did I mention, the previous owner said he had hard sheds the entire time she had him. He was halfway through one when I got him and had at least 2 layers of eye caps on when I picked him up, maybe more. As soon as I got him home, I got out a tub and let him soak for an hour while I dismantled, cleaned, and rebuilt the nightmare of an enclosure he came in. When I got him out of the tub (BTW, she said he was terrified of baths, but he went in on his own..)I let him slither through a wet washcloth a few times and his shed finished perfectly, eyecaps included. I let him explore the couch and my lap for a bit before putting him in his newly remodeled (temporary) home. He explored a bit, basked on the hot side for a little, then settled in to his cool side hide. He's not head shy at all, so that's a bonus as well.
I said temporary about his home, because I plan on ordering a T8 mid month next month to replace this glass with. I've only had it a few days and am already tired of fighting the lack of humidity.
That's pretty much it for the moment. Am I on the right track, or have I missed something vitally important?
Thanks
Steve